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Sales Skills Checklist

This Sales Skills Checklist is designed to help you become a successful salesperson. In this checklist, first we’ll review a list of basic selling skills required for communicating with customers and planning the selling process. Then we’ll focus on key ways for planning training and developing selling abilities. And finally we’ll talk about useful sales skill tips.

Planner. A selling activity becomes successful if a salesperson uses a predefined plan of actions. If you want to reach your goals and increase sales, you need to be a good planner who uses task management software (e.g. VIP Organizer) to create daily to-do lists, templates and schedules. Task management software will help you schedule tasks, set priorities, and track progress. Besides, using such software is a foundation for developing other skills and techniques.

Communicator. Good communication allows a salesperson to speak clearly and share information efficiently. You need to develop your orator skills to learn to talk to potential buyers and get them understanding what you want to communicate.

Ability to Ask Right Questions. Sometimes customers don’t realize what they need. A successful salesperson is always inquisitive and knows how to ask right questions that lead customers to understanding what they really need. In this context you need to learn how to talk to your clients and ask right questions.

Listening to Customer. This sales skill is closely linked to the previous one. By developing an ability to listen to what your customer says will help you indentify the customer’s needs and make the best suggestion. You need to be really attentive and analyze each word said by your customer to hear a key element that will help you identify the customer's needs.

Problem Solving. It’s an ability to reveal and analyze a problem and then find a solution that lets both parties (customer and salesperson) feel satisfied and be the winner. This skill requires you to have great analytical capabilities to analyze your customer's problem and offer solutions with respect to products or services you sell.

Goal-Orientation. Among other examples, goal orientation makes a person always moving forward on achieving certain goals. When you’re goal-oriented, you can start selling without any need for telling you it’s time to work. You clearly realize that if you don’t work you’ll never earn money. Goal orientation turns you into a salesperson who clearly knows why there’s a need to work.

Positive Attitude. A salesperson showing a negative attitude while communicating with customers is likely to fail and distract the attention of potential buyers. That’s why you need to express a positive attitude – this means your actions and talks should have a positive background (like smiling, never saying "No", being optimistic in any situation) that makes a customer feel optimistic about products, quality, prices, delivery conditions, payment methods, etc.

Courtesy. A well-mannered and courteous salesperson has more chances to attract a customer. By showing respect for clients, you automatically attract mutual respect and make a potential buyer feel comfortable while speaking with you. Courtesy is a fundamental skill for building lasting relationships with customers, so take your time and learn to be courteous with people.

Skills Training

Training Service Agencies. There’re a lot of agencies providing sales skill training services. You can pay for attending workshops and training sessions to learn how to best sell a product/service.

Collaboration. Collaborating with other salespersons is another way for successful skills development. You can collaborate with your colleagues to learn how they sell, what words and expressions they use when talking to buyers, how they build effective communication, etc. Collaboration is a great and absolutely free way to exchange knowledge and experience with others.

Tips

Assess Selling Skills. The first and foremost tip refers you to making assessment to find out what skills you currently have and which abilities you should improve. You can use Internet to download special questionnaires and templates for test & assessment.

Believe in Products You Sell. Most likely you’ll never sell a product that you personally don’t believe in. Having trust in products/services you sell will help you convince a customer of the need to purchase these products/services.

Never Feel Frustrated. Frustration turns people into a "medusa" that can’t cope with any challenges. Don’t be like this "medusa". Even if you’ve failed trying to sell a product, never feel upset but think about your mistake and try to find ways to avoid this mistake next time. Try to always be an optimist (besides, being optimistic is one of the key elements of matrix).